Fading Back to Red
by The Vampire Avatar
Summary: Raphael was kidnapped when he was four years old. That was twelve years ago and now people are telling him that his family isn't his family. He's thrown into a new life, that's suppose to be with his 'real' family with three brothers and a single father. He was always told that he was abandoned at the hospital. Will he grow to love them after dramatic events unfold? Human AU
1. Prologue

About two thousand, three hundred missing person reports are filed every day. In total, every year carries a burden of nine hundred thousand missing persons. This is in the United States of America alone. The world is a cruel place. Raping, stealing, unfair laws, murders, abusers, these are only few examples of what gifts the world holds. Of course, family is there to protect you. Unless they are some of the people who are apart of the problem. A high percentage of kidnappers are family members, which is why the kids are so trusting of them. Family is suppose to be one of the only things you can trust in this world.

But nothing is perfect.

Raphael was four years old when he was abducted from his family. He was in a park waiting for his older brothers to return. Nobody knows what exactly happened to him. He might've wandered off, he might've been confused about the meetup point, he might've been kidnapped and molested behind a bush. It was twelve years later by an accident that led the FBI to discover that he was indeed alive and for him to accept took thirteen years for him to call his real family, his family. The world isn't perfect, and neither was his life.

"Listen, Raphie." His older brother, Leo spoke to him in a commanding tone.

Leonardo was ten years old with his three year old brother, Donatello. The three brothers were waiting outside of the hospital in a park they had for children to play on. Their father was here to check up on his friend who was in a mild car accident. Known as Splinter to some, he didn't want his kids to see something so bad quite yet, so he sent them out to play.

"Sensei wants us all to behave and you have to stay here. I'm going to take Donnie to the bathroom and you better be here when I get back." Leonardo watched his younger brother. Sometimes his annoying sibling would listen, then defy him and make the two of them get into trouble. Leo was suppose to be in charge of him, after all. He was the oldest one there, therefore, he had to be right on most (if not all) things. He was also the furthest in their training.

All the brothers would start training on their fifth birthdays. With five years under the belt, Leo had the basics down and was starting to move on to more difficult moves. Raphael was very jealous of his brother, but would wrestle with him occasionally like all brothers eventually do. His birthday was coming up very soon and he couldn't wait to start training like Leonardo.

"Okay." Raphael answered quietly. He was playing with a truck in the sandbox and didn't really care what his older brother was saying. His car was much more important.

He didn't even notice they were gone until somebody sat down next to him. He looked up and saw a smiling woman. She had soft skin and long brown hair that reached her back. She seemed sweet, but again, he had his truck in his hands. Didn't that lady understand that he was playing?

"Hi there. What's your name?" She asked nicely.

He glanced up and watched her for a second before turning back to his car. "Raphael."

"Well, Raphael, what're you playing with?"

"A car." He said shortly. Where were his brothers? They should be back soon and that lady was in their spot.

"That looks like my car. Do you wanna go see it?" The woman smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll even let you ride in it if you want. We can drive around anywhere you want, just like you're playing with the car."

He stopped and considered this. "Anywhere I want?"

"Yup! I'll even take you to get ice cream later if you want."

He smiled and agreed. "Sure, lady. I like chocolate ice cream the best."

She stood up and picked him up in her delicate arms. "Oh, do you?" She mused to him. "I like chocolate, but my favorite would have to be cookie dough."

As they got closer to the car, the more relaxed her nerves became. Jessica and Mike had been planning on this for a while. They weren't picking this child specifically, but he would do nicely. The room they set up was ready, she just went to go get the child today. Her was scared at first, but the child came on his own will, which had made this much easier than it was expected to be.

"Lady, this doesn't look like my car." Raphael spoke up. "It's blue, not red."

"I know, I'm sorry." Jessica glanced behind her quickly. Nobody was watching them. Though, the brothers were coming out of the building about now and had spotted that he wasn't in the same place. They must've thought that he was playing hide and seek or something, because they started to look in trees and other hiding spots the four year old would've reached. "We're going home now, though. Do you wanna watch a movie?"

A few days went by. The police were called, but they didn't have much to go off on. A four year old went missing five days ago. Nobody noticed what happened and by the time that the two brothers told their master what had happened, the kidnapper and her prize were half way to his new home. He of course, requested to go back to his home, and his 'parents' had already decided on what they would tell whatever child they nabbed:

"Honey...they already left you. We saw them leaving and knew they wouldn't come back for you. I'm sorry, baby."

Abandonment: the act of giving something up or the voluntary surrender of property without attempting to reclaim it.

Raphael soon learned how much it hurt to be left on the playground without his brothers, or his father. While he cried about being tossed out, his family cried about the loss of him. The police told them that while they tried their best, they weren't able to do anything about it. Too little information to go off on, too much unnoticed by the world. Anything could've gone wrong, and it was safe to assume the worst in this situation. If anything were to pop up, fingerprints, dental records, any source of DNA found would alert them as a missing person found.

Leo felt horrible. In some way this was all his fault for leaving him alone, he was the oldest one, he was suppose to be right majority of the time. He was suppose to protect his younger brother- the one who was going to start training on his birthday. He were ready to show off his moves to Raphie and help him along with performing them correctly. Now he would have to wait until Donnie, who didn't understand what was going on, was old enough.

Splinter took this the hardest. When his sons told him that they couldn't find Raphael anywhere in the park, he grew concerned. He followed them downstairs and he looked around, called out, asked people if they had seen what happened. Concern turned to fear. He called louder, looking wildly for his son. He went to the front desk and asked about his four year old. They apologized, but they didn't see anything. Fear turned to panic and he called nine-one-one.

When they got home and waited for anything to happen, it felt like somebody gave him shots of adrenaline and punched him in his chest with knives.

"Daddy? Where's Raphie?" Donnie asked his parent. He wasn't in his room and he wasn't watching tv with Leo, so surely his parent would know.

With tears forming in his eyes, Splinter pulled up his son into a hug and held him tightly. He had failed, just like he did with his old family. They had a sister he would never tell them until he believed they were ready. And now, with another child gone, he could feel the grief starting already. "I don't know, Donnie. I don't know."

"Why?" He asked innocently.

His daddy hugged him tighter and began to gently sob with his youngest one in his lap. He held him tighter against his chest and tried not to think of all the cruel things that could happen to a child who was taken in this day and age.


	2. Chapter 1

Twelve years later….

Raphael was going for his brown belt. He had joined a local martial arts studio a few years back and had enjoyed it thoroughly, it felt natural for him. He'd always had a bad attitude and an even worse temper. When his parents signed him up for this class, he was excited and it helped him control his temper. Ever since then, he was focused to become an expert in this matter. Every morning he'd wake up and exercise. Sit up, curl ups, pull ups, running miles, it usually took him two hours. He got up around four to do all of it and get a shower in time before school.

He didn't have many friends. His family moved around a lot, so it didn't really give him much time to do so. Besides, he didn't want any friends. He was fine all by himself. Didn't need anybody outside of his family. He could take care of himself. The teenager was looking into getting a job, could fight pretty damn well, stronger than most, even took his dad's car out for a few spins every once and a while.

His dad. There was a major pain in his life. While his mom had always been nice and caring to Raphael, his dad grew very snappy and mean recently. Sometimes, he and his father would get into fist fights. It was very violent at times, but Raph never let his father hurt his mother. Many a time Raph would step in and take the fist aimed for the kind woman. He always would lash back out to defend her, but he normally would be pulled away by his mom. When he questioned why his dad was like this, she only said it was because the government was getting worse over the years, with all the security and everything.

It was whatever to Raph. So a few times he had to get fingerprints done or someway give out his DNA. It wasn't that big of a deal to him at all, but his parents would throw fits over him accidentally getting in trouble in public. Everytime they see a cop, they would cross over to the other side of the street with a random excuse to do something out of the blue. They always seemed extremely nervous around the police for some reason, but never answered as to why. It was definitely suspicious and when he was younger he would imagine it was because they were ninjas or spies and they didn't want to be caught.

Every now and then he'd sneak out and go have some fun though. His parents of course, had no idea that he did so. He would always cover up his tracks very well, making sure not to wake them up and eventually learned tips on what to do and what not to do as he continued with whatever he did. It depended on what he was feeling like doing and on the night. Drive around, go to parties he could find, sneak into clubs, fight, anything he could find. Tonight was no exception to the collection of nights he would sneak out. It was around one-thirty in the morning when he decided it was a good time.

Granted, he didn't have any friends, but he usually find some. He had charmed plenty of girls before, lost his virginity, hung out with the guys, been in street fights, earned some cursed names, lived the definition of YOLO. Raphael had been blessed with good looks, but he didn't pay any mind to it. Sure, it helped him with the ladies or get some things, but otherwise what good were looks if you couldn't even see yourself? It's like having a good shirt. People might like it, but you just wear it.

Raph had red spikey hair that no hair gel could put up a fight against. He dyed it every month so it wouldn't show his blonde roots coming in. He hated being blonde, it really didn't suit his personality. Some of the spikes would fall down in his face, which used to annoy him, but now he just kinda rolled with it. He liked to wear some worn down jeans that he got over the years. Red shoes to go with the look and he had a black jacket over a red wife beater. His brown eyes complemented the entire look, which he approved of. Lots of people comment on the red, but he usually just shrugs it off with a grunt.

Tonight, he swiped his hair out of his face again and groaned. Maybe he should get it cut soon. Raphie opened his screeching bedroom window, paused, and listened for any sounds. When it was okay by his standards, he climbed out. He always left a tiny crack open. Not enough for anybody to notice, but enough for him for open it back up in a few hours. Whenever he snuck out, he was always back before he woke up to start working out. He'd have about three hours tonight, some nights he'd go out for the entire night. He'd have to be really careful in the upcoming sneak-outs, his dad noticed the gas tank being emptied sometimes and was starting to question him about it.

Raphael dropped from his second story window and crossed over the yard to his dad's car. I was a black chevy with four wheel drive. The tires were brand new and ready for use. They recently moved here and he hadn't explored the woods yet. Maybe he'd go and see what was over there. Another option, he could go find a club jammin' tonight too, he heard about the one on thirty first street was suppose to have a surprise there tonight. Maybe he could buy a drink enjoy the show.

He wasn't all party and break stuff all the time though. He did have a future to think about and lived by some of the martial arts code. Never kill unless necessary, don't pick fights for fun (he did it when somebody was breaking rules most of the time), and never get caught. All in all, he was a good guy if you got to know him. Most people never did though, which is why he carried a cursed over his name. Some people would've made a sailor blush with the words they slurred at him after a fight he won.

Hold on.I think I might be doing something wrong. After all, Raphael fights for what he thinks is right. He's determined to protect his mom from his dad's abusive blows, and won't ever have sex with somebody who was in the bit hesitant. Earned okay grades in school, worked out every morning, liked pizza, even picked up some skating every now and then. He had only two glasses of alcohol in his life and quickly found that he did not like it at all. Never smoked, got high, or any of that bullshitty drug world. It wasn't his. All in all, he was a good kid, but one with a nasty ass temper.

So if he were a such a good kid, why was he being pulled over on a highway at two in the morning?

He made sure that no cops were around before breaking the speed limit and just having a joy-ride with some of his hard-lemonade in the cup holder. The car engine roared with excitement and let the tires spin wildly on the empty highway. Wind flew into the window and messed with his hair, smelling on concrete and tire marks. The street lights zoomed by his window and he soon left them behind.

There was a phrase he didn't like. Left behind. Apparently when he was a really young, his family left him at the hospital. He figured it was right after he was born since his parents never told him how old exactly he was at the time. Eventually he must've been put into an orphanage and a nice family, his real family, came and adopted him. He never really wanted to talk about it. There wasn't very much to the story after all and he didn't exactly care to call the abandoners his 'family.'

While he was distracted with the feeling of being tossed out, he sighed. He didn't understand why they left him. He didn't have a chance to do anything remotely wrong. With a deep sigh, he repeated the argument he had with himself whenever this subject came up. Him reassuring that it wasn't his fault, they abandoned him. It was all their fault, they were horrible people. If he ever saw them he wouldn't even know it was them. He didn't have any pictures of them or anything, so he didn't care about them...or at least tried not to. He imagined them to be really poor people or rich people. Depending on which one you went with they had different life scenarios, but in both it remained the same: they were the worst people you'd ever meet.

Suddenly, sirens filled his ears. With a shot of panic, he looked behind him and cursed. a police cruiser was behind him with lights and sirens blaring in the air. He slowed down and pulled over, hoping, praying that they were speeding off to an emergency. Somebody was being robbed, mugged, something. But instead of obeying his childish wish, the car pulled over with him. Raph heard the car open and close behind him as he rolled down the window and cursed, hitting the wheel with his hand and hissing curses up until the officer shined a light into the window.

The cop was a chubby one and he had a funny moustache that could be a meme itself if it went viral. But he also wore a scowl on his face and Raphael knew he was in trouble.

"Can I see your license and registration, please?" He manually asked.

Raph sighed and slipped his hands into his lap. "Don't have any."

The cop didn't even blink. "Why don't you, sir?"

"This is my dad's car. I don't have my license yet." He was watching the cop out of his peripheral vision. He was nodding, as if he expected an answer like that.

"I figured it was something like that. Sir, could I ask you to step out of the vehicle and put your hands on the hood?" Raph sent another prayer that he wouldn't be arrested. He knew that he was probably going to be for joyriding, but all the same, it couldn't hurt to hope, would it?

He opened the door and stepped out into the tense atmosphere. The cop was taller than him and it bothered the teenager. Not the fact that he was about to go to jail, but the fact that the cop was almost trying to be a few centimeters taller. If he was wearing different shoes it would be a completely different story. But right now wasn't the time to dwell too much on height differences. He spread himself out like they usually had to drunkies do on cop shows.

The cop began to pat him down all over his body. It felt weird for hands to check him for weapons, including shoes, and even hair. His hair was short enough that he couldn't hide a quarter in it, let alone a bloody weapon. Regardless, the more he was searched the more confused Raphael became. He was pulled over for speeding and not having a license. Why was he being pat down?

Before he could voice his question, his wrists came together and were put in something tight and medal. Oh, how he wished this could've been a weird game some prankster was pulling on him or that he was handcuffed to a pipe on a sinking ship. He'd rather take the sinking ship and hopeless romantic chick than the wrath of his parents when they get a call at three in the morning asking them to come and pick up their juvenile child from the coppers'.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say and will be used against you in court…" The cop began to recite what he probably said a hundred times that day alone.

The way there was a blur. The cop let him into the backseat of the cruiser and he watched the buildings pass by through the window. He was in so much trouble, he didn't want to think. Already he could imagine the lecture he was going to get, the fists his stomach would have to endure. His mom's voice telling, begging, her husband to stop. He'd say about three months grounded period. This time he would actually obey it. Maybe it would give him more time to work out or do something productive.

When they finally reached the station, coppie grunted and got out of the car. Because Raph wasn't too much of a problem, the cop just followed the youngster inside the building after locking up his car. From there he had to go through all these screenings, pictures, thumb prints, all that fun stuff that went with being arrested for the night. It was his dad's car, so he shouldn't be pressed with any charges. Eventually he was led to a cell that was empty. It wasn't too big, but it wasn't too small. It was about the size of a teenage girl's room. The walls were chipping and it smelt awful, but he didn't have much of a choice.

"We called your parents, they should be here soon to pick you up." Another officer, this one much younger than the other one, spoke to him. "Maybe twenty minutes with all the paperwork?"

Raph nodded and laid down on the bench they provided in the cell. He turned his head and watched the second hand travel around the circle in sixty seconds. Once it had done this about thirty times, he became bored quickly. He closed his eyes and yawned. Boy, he was tired than he originally thought. He turned his head the other way and opened his eyes to study his surroundings. He found the cop doing late night paperwork and some people talking away about some show they were watching. There were two sets of cells outside of his own, so he wasn't about to break out of here anytime soon.

He shifted his attention over to the clock again and watched it move around again and again. He didn't realize he fell asleep until somebody was sliding his cell gate open from the outside. Raphael sat up and blinked at them with heavy eyes. "'Re my p'rents here?" He slurred through his sleepy mind.

"Actually, we're trying to locate them now." A lady stepped out behind a cop, holding a clipboard. "We called them two hours ago, but he discovered something interesting. Which is why I'm here. Do you want to go talk about this?" She asked curtly, waving a clipboard in the air.

He gave her a confused look. "Whoa, whoa, slow down. What do you mean 'locate them?' Shouldn't they already be here? We don't live far from the police station." He was starting to wake up now and was already beginning to feel the worry seep into his pores.

"Raphael, I know. Would you please come with me?" The lady again held out the clipboard to him. "We have a lot to discuss with you."

Raphael wasn't the happiest person out there this morning. It was barely seven thirty outside and already his world was crumbling from underneath him. They gave him breakfast, let him sleep a bit longer, but woke him up when another lady had arrived at the station. They both looked super official when put together and seemed to be focused on something important. The three of them were in an office together and were sipping their coffee in silence for a bit before it was broken by the second lady who came here.

"Hello, Raphael. How are you doing?" She asked nicely. "I'm Mrs. Stacy, I'm from CPS. I'll be working with you on your file." Her black hair was in a nice ponytail and she wouldn't stop smiling. It annoyed him a bit.

"Why are you here? Where are my parents?" He sharply cut to the chase. "I want to go home."

The smile slid off her face and she sighed. "That's what we need to talk to you." She slid a folder over to the other lady across the table and the lady opened it up. He recalled her name was something like Donna or something. He wasn't all there when he woke up and she introduced herself to him.

He blinked again and nodded for her to continue. "Well, your caretakers go by Jessica and Mike Parker, correct?" Donna read through the files and glanced back at him for the already known answer.

"What do you mean, 'Go by?' That's their names." Raph said hesitantly. Something was going on and he didn't like this at all. He had a bad feeling in his gut that normally meant trouble was brewing.

"No, I'm afraid their real names are Cindy and Daniel Stevenson. They've been lying to you your entire life. They're the ones who abducted you when you were about five years old." She spoke too calmly for anybody's taste.

Raphael stopped thinking. Abducted? She meant adopted, right? He knew that they weren't the ones who gave birth to him, but they were definitely were real parents to him. They had taken care of every scraped knee, every time he would get in trouble at school or had a problem with another school, every homework problem, all would be taken care of by his loving parents. They were his family, not those people that abducted people. Nothing ever bad had happened to him until he was about twelve when his father began to get upset with the world.

Stacy continued, oblivious to her client's discomfort. "You were taken from a playground at St. Mary's Hospital. Do you remember? Your brothers left you for a few minutes and when they came back you were gone."

"H-how do you know it was me? It could've been some other stupid kid out there, o-or somebody got the wrong file on the computer!" He desperately cried out, trying to believe that none of this was true.

"No, I'm sorry." Donna spoke up softly. "Your pictures match. Look," she slid a picture of a small boy with two other kids next to him. "This is you in the middle. Then this is you now," She slid over another photo. The face line was kinda the same, but he still didn't really think it was the same.

"So what? A lot of kids look like other people. Google it if you don't believe me, some people could just be time travelers or something, I don't know." The teenager slid back the photos and crossed his arms over his chest. "You don't know for sure that's me. Pictures are worth bullshit."

"No, they aren't. You're right." Stacy spoke up and sneered at him from across the table. He kept his face the way it was and smirked on the inside. He got her now.

"But fingerprints say a different story."

Wait, what.

"We got your fingerprints off last night, and twelve years ago, we got your fingerprints off of some of your toys and other things in your room. They're a complete match. Congrats," she slid the finger prints pictures over the table to him. "It's a known fact that fingerprints don't change over the years. No two people have the same set of prints."

He studied the photos, desperately wracking his brain for some way this couldn't be true. Where were his parents? All he wanted was to go home, he didn't want to face this horrid reality. He didn't want to hear that he was taken away from somebody and lied to his face everyday of his life. He wanted things to go back the way he liked it; His dad actually happy, his mom playing with him and not worrying about anything, him smiling at his proud parents and telling the adventures he went through that day at bedtime stories.

"Raphael? Raphael? You're not Raphael Parker. Your name is Raphael Hamato." One of the ladies said to him softly. He was very obviously having a hard time accepting this and everything was beginning to blur for him. "Raphael, your real family is here to see you."

He shook his head frantically. "I-I...I don't…" He stuttered through. The table shifted and he glanced up at the person above him and blinked stupidly as something opened, it sounded like a door, and some people rushed into the room.

"Raphael!" A strangely familiar voice called through his foggy mind. It was like something reopened a forgotten memory. "Raphael, my son!"

S-son...Was this suppose to be a joke? His dad wasn't here, Raphael didn't know where his dad was, let alone his mom. Now this guy he couldn't even clearly see from all the confusion was claiming him as his son. Where was his parents? His real parents? He missed them and he wanted them back now. He wished he knew where they were so he could go meet them somehow. If he knew how to get there, maybe. It had to be close, though. He didn't know where anything was anymore.


	3. Chapter 2

It was a hard time for the Hamato family. It had been years since they had reported their second oldest child was missing. Not a word was said about it since then. The police stopped the investigation all together, actually. Said that they couldn't do anything else for the kid, hopefully the abductors, or whatever happened, to Raph were kind and wouldn't hurt him.

Since then, they had received another child. It wasn't like they were replacing Raph or anything, but it did help a bit with a third child to keep busy with. Michelangelo was brought into the family a year after Raphael disappeared from the face of the earth. He was almost the exact opposite of Raphael, always being happy and cheery, loved to do things with his brother, played pranks on everyone, even liked Raphael's least favorite pizza topping. Mikey was too young to find out what really happened to his older brother, like Donnie. But the two youngest ones did have a right to know.

That's why ten years after Raphie disappeared, Splinter sat all of his remaining children down at the table and told them what had happened. He explained the event that occurred at the hospital, which Leo and Donnie could somewhat remember. Mikey was silent and listened with great interest, he never knew who the kid in some pictures around the house was and nobody would explain it to him. Whenever he asked about it to his dad, Splinter would distract him with something else or tell him to go work on his flips a bit more.

Splinter had to stop at many points to take a few deep breaths and clear his throat. He never liked talking about Raphael or his...other family. He went on to explain what had happened with the police reports on this. He had to explain that the police had done everything they could at the time and found nothing. He tried not to let his emotions show too much in this, it was over with. He mourned the loss of his son, tried to move on, spent Raphael's birthdays with his remaining family, tried to forget and move on. But Donnie and Mikey never knew this story, never knew what happened.

Leonardo already knew most of this at the age of twenty. He was now the full adult of the family and made sure that his younger brothers would be safe at all times, he would rather die than let another family member get hurt when he could prevent it. However, with his sensei almost at tears at the table, he felt like he was discovering this for the first time. He felt like he did when he heard his fearless dad crying in his room late at night when he was suppose to be asleep. It felt like a rug had been ripped out from underneath him and he didn't know what to do.

Mikey and Donnie didn't speak much of it when Master Splinter was finished talking. What could they say? Donnie barely remembered Raphie, couldn't remember his voice, only remembered huge events that he could somewhat recall his older brother. Mikey didn't. Mikey only found out that he had another brother and he was taken from his family. What was he like? Was he smart like Donnie, funny like himself? Maybe he was girly and played with dolls. His imagination was the only answer he could bring upon himself.

Until one early ass morning around six thirty, the phone rang. Splinter was already up making his tea when it began to sound throughout the household, effectively waking everybody up. He chuckled when he heard three groans coming and one slamming door.

He reached for the phone hooked up on the kitchen wall and answered it with a peacefully hello. He sipped his tea thoughtfully until he heard what they were saying.

"Hello, is this Hamato residence?" Immediately he was on guard. It was too early for this to be some insurance salesman.

"Who is this?" The guardian of three asked slowly.

"This is police station from downtown. It's kinda far from you, I realize this, sir, but we need you to come down and pick up your child." The lady on the other line said, clearly already bored with the day.

Splinter became confused. All his kids were still in bed. What was this lady talking about? "I'm sorry, I think you made a mistake. My kids are-"

"Oh, sorry, sir. Did you want to give him up for foster care? We understand if you can no longer care for children."

"All my kids are here. Wait, hold on a minute. What's the child's name?" He spoke with rising hope and fear.

"Oh my, I just remembered," She spoke with more spark in her voice now. She was more excited. "Sir, I have good news for you this morning?"

He stopped for a few seconds in confusion before nodding to himself and sighing. "What is it?" He asked, taking another sip of his tea and nodding at Leonardo, who was coming down the stairs.

"Sir, some years ago you lost Raphael, correct? Well, we found him!" She squealed into the phone. "He turned up last night and he matched the DNA from then!"

Splinter dropped his cup of tea and the phone loudly. Tears already formed in his eyes, he began to scramble for the phone. "A-are you sure? My son?" He spoke rapidly. "You found my son?" Leonardo looked up and rushed over to the phone his father was at with a shocked expression on his face. Splinter looked at his oldest with a smile and nodded at him. The lady said something on the other line and Splinter grabbed Leo into a breathtaking hug. "They found him! They found Raphael!"

Twenty minutes later, Leonardo and his father were on the road to get their lost family member.

They had to wait in the lobby until somebody came and told them it was okay to go and see him. Apparently, something was wrong and Raph was trying to understand what exactly was going on. Splinter was furious that Raph didn't remember them, that the kidnappers pretended they were his real family. They had to have brainwashed them or something for this to happen. He was only four at the time, he couldn't have known the difference in some lies and other truths.

"Do you think he'd remember us, father?" Leonardo spoke softly.

Splinter turned to his son and watched him study the table. While Splinter was suffering the loss of a son, Leonardo was suffering the loss of his younger brother and his failure. Now they both were hoping with all they could that Raph would remember them as his family. His true family.

"I know not. We shall see what will happen though." Splinter answered wisely. "He will be sixteen when we see him again. Can you imagine the change?"

Leonardo smiled softly and nodded. "I can, master. He'll be taller."

"And smarter." Splinter added.

"I wonder what he'll be like." Leonardo sighed thoughtfully. "Maybe he'll still be the hothead we knew him to be."

Splinter chuckled. "Perhaps, but hopefully he won't throw a fit when he doesn't get snacktime."

The two laughed and sighed contently. It was twelve years ago that they were in a heartbreak. And finally, finally, they were so close to finding the child they lost, they couldn't wait. They shouldn't have to, but they were told that Raphael was having a hard time understanding and trying to grasp what was going on. They needed to be sure that nothing would happen when they go in to see him for the first time.

It was nearing eight o'clock by the time somebody had come over to the pair sitting down. They had been there for almost and hour, waiting anxiously for any sort of news to be drafted over to them. They hadn't said much other than the short conversations about him, and those quickly died after a few minutes. They didn't know what to expect. For all they know, he might've been seriously hurt or affected by what had happened to him over the years. A guess was all they had to go off on.

"Excuse me, are you the Hamatos?" An officer approached them, holding a clipboard with some files tucked in next to it.

Leo stood up and stuck out his hand. "Yes, my name is Leonardo. Is Raph ready?"

The cop glanced at some of the lines printed on the folder before nodding slowly. "Okay...um, I think he's about ready, if you'll follow me." Without looking back up, they turned and began walking down the hall.

Leo blinked and dropped his hand. "Of course." He turned and looked at his sensei. "Are you ready to see your son again?"

A small smile grew on the old man's face. He was beyond ready to see his baby again. It had been too long, much too many days have passed without his young child. "The last time I saw him, he was about as tall as my hip. Now I wonder how much he had changed."

"Well," Leo nodded back to where the cop disappeared to. "Let's go find out."

The cop lead them to an office like room with blinded windows. They stopped and could hear some voices from the inside. They weren't able to make out what exactly they were saying, but could hear the muffled voices. When a deeper voice started to speak, Leo and Splinter shared a look that was of relief, happiness, and excitement. However, when the voice became somewhat nervous and close to hysteria, the two began to grow concerned.

The cop knocked on the door and waited for somebody to respond. An official lady opened the door a crack and had a whispered conversation with him. He nodded before turning to the pair next to him. "You can see him, but he's not taking this as well as we had hoped."

Splinter sighed and nodded. "If we must be gentle, so be it. But I will see my son."

The cop watched the two for a few seconds. He must've worked with this type of stuff before because he opened the door and motioned them to come inside.

This was it, the moment that they had been dying for for the past twelve years. The moment that they pleaded with fate to come sooner. The one thing that they desperately yearned for. It was now.

The pair stepped into the room and Splinter immediately gasped. "Raphael," he beamed at the young man standing in front of him. "My son!"

The man who was in front of him looked nothing like he remembered. Instead of sunshine like hair, he now had bright cherry red hair. He was taller than he imagined him to be, and looked like he had a lot of muscle under his shirt. He had some scars on his body that neither of the pair wanted to acknowledge that they were real. His eyes held a lot of maturity and less innocent than Splinter would've liked, but he guess that's what happens when something like this happened. Overall, he looked like he grew up over the years.

He also looked extremely confused and flustered. He kept glancing at the pair of family members in the room and the agents across the table from him. His mouth was open wide and he closed it then opened it repeatedly like a fish out of water.

Leo stepped forward and met his eyes. "Do you remember anything?"

Raph watched him intently but shook his head. "N...no."

Splinter wanted to hug him tightly when he heard his voice. It had deepened a lot, but you could still hear the little boy asking if he could be trained with his brother in it. He held back when he understood what the voice was saying and felt a stab of an indescribable feeling in his gut.

Raphael blinked heavily and put his head in his hands on the table. "I was told you abandoned me at the hospital." Leo and Splinter grew angry at that and Leo sharply asked the agents some questions about this when Raphael noticed Splinter was there. "And who are you?"

Splinter had black hair with white roots starting to grow in. His body was starting to age quite well and he knew he should be taking it a bit easier. But, he had three teenagers to take care of along with one just out of his teenagers. Now he had a confused son with him at long last and despite how scared Raph was, Splinter was glad that he had him back in his life. "I am your father."

Raph pointed at Leo. "Is he like your gay partner? Because that's kinda nasty with the age difference."

Leo groaned and shook his head. "Same old Raph."

Splinter chuckled with amusement and shook his head. "That is Leonardo. He is your older brother. Do you remember him?"

The redhead turned to Leo and studied him for a few seconds. He pressed his lips together in a line and shook his head. "Sorry. No."

Leo tried not to look disappointed as he continued to talk with the agents about everything that would be happening in the next few days. Appointments, Stacy coming over to check on him every few weeks to make sure that he's comfortable in this place, etc. He'd have to explain it all to his father and everybody later, but that was okay.

Raph turned to the said agent and asked when he could go home. "Anytime your family is ready." She gestured to them. "We'll have to go get your things another time, but until then I'm afraid that you'll have to make-do with what ya got."

Raph nodded glumly and stood out of the chair he'd been sitting in for the past few minutes. "Okay," he sighed. "No belongings. That's fair."

They stepped out into the air and he sighed. When he went into this building last night, he was so scared of what his parents were going to do to him when they got the phone call. Now they left and he was scared of what was going to happen to everybody he knew now. In fact, it was somewhat ironic. They always told him that his biological family abandoned him at the hospital, but now it seemed like his 'family' abandoned him because they were going to get caught. It was with a held back sob he realized what message just sent him:

He had no family.

"Raphael, are you coming?" The older brother(...Leo, was it?) called over his shoulder. "The sooner we get home, the sooner you can settle in and meet everybody.

Raph didn't want to meet anybody. He wanted his life back. But, he sighed, now he didn't really get a choice in the matter of anything anymore.

"Yeah." He looked back once more over his shoulder and put on a tough guy mask. He could easily handle this fight, just like any other fight. "Yeah, I'm coming."

* * *

_**A few things: **_

_**1. Kudos for Caki Black for spotting the Finding Carter plot starter (I'm in love with the beginning so I'm basing it off of that. From this point out it will be my stuff ;D ) **_

_**2. I have about 4 other fics to write. I got this idea and desperately wanted to write it. SO. I'm going to update, or at least try to, everyday until it's done. I'm only planning on doing 5-7 chapters. This is numbero 3, so that leaves four more. Yaaayyy... I dunno, might change the number, might not. **_

_**3. This is my very first TMNT fic. Never written anything for it, got into the series about a week or so ago after finding cute Turtle Tots stuff. If you see I'm writting a character OOC, LET ME KNOW. I'll try and fix it as best as I can. **_

_**Thank you guys so much!**_

_**~TVA**_


	4. Chapter 3

The house outside was very tidy. The lawn was mowed and the weeds weren't even there. The tree they had on the outside sparked a feeling in him. Had he done something here? He might've fallen out of the tree or something, he had done that a lot. Anytime he saw a tree he would pretend he was climbing the Eiffel tower or something and jump off of a new existent cliff by the ocean and be an underwater explorer. But that was in the past and now he here.

The car cut the engine and Leo smiled at him from the drivers seat. "You can go inside if you want to, it should be unlocked. I have to talk to him," he nodded over to Splinter. "About some things and then we'll be right in."

Raph silently nodded and got out of the car. It was a pretty nice day outside and he didn't mind the fact it was in a different place. Almost as much as he didn't mind losing his parents. Or his everything he owned. It was exciting to him to restart his entire life with people he never heard of claiming he was their long lost son and brother.

When he stepped into the house, a blanket of familiarity was slammed into him. He had been here before, he knew that for a fact, but had no memories here at all whatsoever. The inside was like it was on the outside-clean. The living room was right next to the door with some posters of Japanese words or whatever with a bookshelf and small things here and there. The couch was a tanish color and you could easily tell it was in a very nice condition. He guessed they were ever really in there or they took extremely good care of their things. Either way, it was very different from the condition he lived in before.

The wood floors were shiny and were in better condition than the couch could ever dream of being in. It looked like it was polished regularly and had no dust or hair in sight. There was a hallway table near the door with a basket full of keys and other important things. Beside it was a coat hanger that bore only two coats on it. They must've had their clothes elsewhere because it wasn't going to get cold anytime soon and the coats it had were paper thin.

The stairs were carpeted and were somewhat clean. You could tell it was vacuumed every now and then, but it was definitely a chore to some poor sap that had to deal with it. The stairs had to be about twenty or twenty five steps high and led upstairs. Past the stairs were the kitchen and he could bet anything he had that it was clean too. There were some steps down into the basement area, but he guessed it wasn't for much use with the lock on the door handle.

When he looked at the table again he was stunned into silence. Next to the bowl were pictures of a young boy and newspaper clips about him with matching pictures. Raph recognized it as his own pictures-or at least it was him in them. To Raph, these guys were the abducters. They ripped him out of his life and told him that he was theirs. It wasn't fair that they could just do whatever they pleased with him while he has to-

A closing door snapped him out of scoping out the place and scowling. He turned to see the other two following him inside. They seemed to be on edge about something and it bothered him. Before he could actually ask about it, Leo smiled at him and scanned around with his eyes. "Do you remember it?"

Raph said nothing and stared at Leo.

His "brother" had dark hair color and it mixed well with his blue shot. His hair was straight and stayed down, unlike Raph's hair with pointy ends and spiked everywhere like an anime character. Leo had matching blue eye color with everything he was wearing. His off black jeans helped balance it out, too. Raph mainly wore red and black, his favorite colors, and breifly wondered if the other brothers shared the love for the two color scheme going on.

"Donnie, Mikey, come down. Raph's here!" Leo called up the stairs and awkwardly smiled as crashing sounds and pounding footsteps were heard in the background.

The two younger brothers immediately answered Raph's color question.

The older looking one was wearing purple and white with some black thrown in there. He had Leo's hair style too, only he had goggles around his head currently. He must've been into some sort of science if he's wearing those, that or he's just weird. He was probably the tallest of the four so far and that irritated Raph that somebody younger was taller. He normally didn't ever handle that thing well.

Shorty was clearly a kid still. He had orange and black on him and he was just smiling. His blonde spiky hair was identical to Raph's when it wasn't dyed. He was clearly the youngest by how short he was with the baby fat cheeks he still wore. Some freckles dotted his face and he seemed proud of them by how much he was smiling. He had bright eyes that seemed to smile at him even though his mouth did a splendid job of that already.

"Raphael, these are your younger brother." Splinter spoke up. "Michelangelo is the one in orange and is the youngest at thirteen. Donatello is the second youngest at sixteen." Both of them greeted him friendly, which he returned with a nod and a wave.

Raph looked around and turned to Splinter. "Is this all of the family or is there more?"

"This is all," he replied softly. "Small, but good. It's certainly loud at times."

"Obviously, you got three boys here. Where's the mom of the house anyway?" Raph asked bluntly.

Silence filled the room and all the boys lowered their eyes to the ground. Splinter managed to keep eye contact, but his face immediately saddened. Raph understood. There was no mom here-not anymore at least.

"What was it like to be in the streets?" Mikey spoke up suddenly. "Did you get into gang fights?"

"Michelangelo!" Splinter barked at him.

"What?" Raph crossed his arms.

"We said that you grew up in some rough places to them," Leo stepped in. "I told him not to ask you that."

"It's okay, I mean I did." Raph shrugged and turned to Mikey. "Got in a lot of fights with a lot of people. This one guy and I swap blades every time we get into it." He added with a little hint to his voice that dared Mikey to challenge him on it.

"I don't believe you," Mikey took the bait. "You don't look like you'd get into a fight and win."

"Yeah? And you do? What're you, thirteen? Watch out guys." He threw his hands up in the air. "We got a badass over here."

Mikey rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "I'm maturer than I look."

"Right. Tell me, are you a ladies man? Ever been with a girl?"

Mikey shook his head. "Not really, I'm only thirteen."

Raph nodded. "So you haven't done anything yet?"

"I've been in fights and stuff," Mikey defended himself. "And I've done grown up things!"

"Like what? Name one thing."

"I've uh...I've driven a car!" He said proudly.

"That was just one time and it wasn't even on." Donnie spoke up for the first time.

"So," Raph smiled and crossed his arms. "You haven't done drugs, been in fights, or any of that?" Raph smirked when he shook his head expectantly. "Talk to me when you've done all that and lost your virginity. Then we can swap stories."

"Raphael! We do not say such things!" Splinter glared at him. "He's thirteen."

Raph had to bite his tongue from comparing what he did when he was thirteen. The scars he earned at that age briefly entered his mind again and he sighed mentally. He didn't want them to know everything about him yet. "Whatever," he finally mumbled and walked up the stairs. "Which room is mine?"

Two weeks later...

His room was the guest room. The house had five rooms and when he was taken, Mikey took his room. It didn't really matter to Raph, he didn't remember anything anyway. But they were still somewhat guilty and apologized up and down. It wasn't that bad, really. The room was pretty big and had a nice view out of the window. The window was on the corner too, so he move the bed so he could watch the stars when he was lying down. It was a queen sized bed, bigger than he ever had.

Most of everything was better than what he had here. He didn't grow up in the streets, but he did live in some bad parts of towns before. He didn't particularly mind, after all he still had his parents. But all the same, it had been pretty rough for him. He had been forced to grow up faster than what he liked, but it made him able to survive better when he needed it.

His parents were pretty nice until he turned eleven or so. His dad would start hanging out with some pretty bad people and got into a nasty mood when cops would come around in patrol. Raphael would always have a knife on him during those time. He got it from the kitchen, but the threat was still enough to keep his dad away that night.

He wondered how his mom was holding up with him. He had to be in a bad mood now that they were on the run.

He sighed and laid out of the temporary white bedspread on his bed. Raphael would usually wake up early every morning, no matter what time he finally managed to catch sleep. He had to train. He knew very well that Splinter and the others would deny him to leave for his morning runs everyday. They would've thought that he was leaving to go back to his home.

So instead he did the next best thing: he snuck out. The windows were older than what he was used to, but he still managed to elude being heard. Running for about an hour and back wasn't really what Raphael had in mind for stress relieving, but it still worked. He even managed to get on top of a roof and tried to jump to the building next to it.

Needless to say, he had a lot of work to do in the art of roof jumping. But at least he started a new collection of bruises. Luckily, he didn't get any broken bones quiet yet, but he wasn't taking any chances. He put a few things he'd figured were soft enough to break his fall down onto the concrete below the three-story building. If he fell, he would simply fall onto the sheets and pillows he found.

Yet, when he came home yesterday, his shoulder was killing him from landing on it. It was a bitch to climb up into the window again and not show any pain he had from the experiences. He even winced at the sound of the window coming up and almost fell off of the ledge. No sounds reached his ears, so he hauled himself in and jumped into the bed. He was seriously going to need to sleep sometime. It was beginning to be very hard to stay awake, if at all, around the others.

He nodded. Yeah, it would be a pretty good idea to sleep a bit more before rising and getting food. He looked up to see the stars shining for him. The moon was bright enough tonight for all the light anybody would need. He thought about getting a book or writing something down but opted again to sleep some more. For the first time since he moved here, he fell asleep without the assistance of tears or exhaustion forcing him to sleep for a few restless hours.

If he was unexpectedly lied to once, he would be lied to again. His case worker, Stacy, said she would be there in ten days. On the tenth day she didn't even show up. It was on the fourteenth day when the doorbell rang and Donnie answered it.

"Hello," she smiled at him. "Is Raphael here?"

By the way she was dressed and the way she smiled too fake for it to be believed, he was confused. He blinked and nodded slowly. "And you are...?"

She ran a hand through her hair and tried to see over him. "I'm his case worker. I had to check up on him a while ago but forgot. He here?"

Donnie nodded and opened the door for her. "Yeah, I'll go get him."

She stepped inside and glanced around the house. It was very clean and seemed to be a nice environment, but she always had to be sure. It was her job to make sure that all the kids she deals with are safer in their environment than they were before. She really didn't care-she hated kids. This one wasn't any different. A sob story and the need for a new home. It was the same old thing she dealt with everyday.

"I thought you would be here earlier." A very familiar voice answered her and she instantly put on a fake smile for the show.

"Raphael! How are you?"

He shrugged and narrowed his eyes at her. "Why are you here now?"

"I was caught up in another case. I can't tell you anything about it because of the privacy issues."

He nodded stiffly. "'Course ya can't." An awkward silence filled the room and she continued to wear a plastic face. He continued to stare and rolled his eyes away from her a minute later. "What do you need me for?"

"I'm here to make sure that you're safe and happy here. If you'd like to do other living arrangements, maybe we could arrange that, but for now I'm just here to see how you like it, if there are any problems, and so on." She sighed and sat down on the couch in the living room. "So, let's get started."

Raphael watched her confused for a few seconds. He was still trying to process what she said. He could have other living arrangements? Maybe he could "arrange" for him to go find his parents. He could get noticed or something online and have his parents find him easier.

She must've guessed what he was thinking and shook her head. "No, Raphael, we can't let you see your kidnappers until the court case." She tutted. "If you want different living arrangements we can somehow squeeze you into the foster program, but it will take time and crush your family's feelings."

He shrugged.

"Are they not treating you alright? Anything you need to report?" Stacy asked automatically.

"No, no, they're nice. Really they are, it's just..." He sighed deeply and looked at his feet. "I want things to go back to normal."

She opened a file and shook her head. "Not possible."

His hands quickly formed into fists began to shake. "Thank you," Raph scowled, "for that wonderful reminder."

She shrugged and continued to write things down. "When do I get my stuff back?" He asked solemnly.

"Well, let's see." She checked her watch and looked back to him. "Where is it?"

"At my house and a...friend is holding some more private things for me."

"Well, we can send an officer to get the things from your house and I guess you can go with your family to get your other belongings. What are they, anyway?"

"It's just some stuff I didn't want my dad to wreck when he was drunk." He muttered under his breath. "Do I have to go with my family?"

"How else are you going to get it?" She asked too sweet for his taste. "You can't walk there. Besides, we don't trust you enough for that yet. Maybe you guys could do family things there." She smiled and looked at the clock. "Well, if that's all, I have to go now. More appointments and such," she waved goodbye and let herself out.

He didn't move from his seat and sighed when he heard the front door close shut. Her car engine spoke words to him and he imagined all the gears running. She had a nice ride, sounded like his bike, he'd give her that but, dear god, he hated that lady.


	5. Chapter 4

The first time he had officially was allowed to ride his motorcycle, it was a dream come true. He had rode motorcycles before, but his parents never knew. They didn't want him to even admire motorcycles because of how crazy dangerous they were known to be. They had fought him time over time again over not getting one, but he never really listened to their worries. Not only did he know how to build a motorcycle from the ground up, but when he finally saved up enough money to buy it, he upgraded it to his style. It was a beautiful motorcycle. He would've prefered other brands to it's type, but he liked it for the price.

A black and red crotch rocket for seven hundred and fifty dollars. That was what he had gotten only a year or so ago. He had to keep it at a trusted friend's house to prevent his dad from touching it. He had shown his parents it, of course, but he never let them touch it. When he was taken away, he had no way of letting his friend know. It was driving him crazy with the thought of something happening to it. He had spent a fortune of time and money on it and didn't need anything to happen to it.

Because his friend lived in a poor side of town, Raph didn't have any way of contact without actually going down there himself and talking to the man. And because he didn't have a car or truck he could use without getting in major trouble with the already cautious family knowing, he couldn't go down there. Therefor, he needed to get them to agree that it was okay for him to take a truck down there and get his bike. It was too far for him to keep there anymore and this was a pretty nice neighborhood. He would be able to work on it here somewhere, it was just a matter of actually getting it here.

Raphael sighed. He wanted to bring up his point at dinner tonight. He usually ate in his room and took the dishes down when he was done a few minutes later. That's usually how his meals ran, but if he wanted his bike badly enough- which he desperately did- he would have to talk to them. Meaning, he would need to be social and go ask at dinner.

"Dinner's ready, guys! Come and eat!" Mikey's voice called up the stairs. He was the cook of the family and was surprisingly good at it.

He heard Leo and Donnie walk down the stairs and he took one last minute studying himself in the mirror on the wall. It wasn't the best idea he ever had, but he wanted the red beauty back.

When he walked into the kitchen, eyes glanced towards him awkwardly as they had done for the past two weeks. Mikey just glared at him when he entered the kitchen and filled his plate with the food he had made. Raphael, and everybody else, could tell that Mikey did not want him there. Raph was taking up space here, never talked to anybody, wasn't making any effort for anybody to get to know him, Mikey and Raph didn't get along, Mikey had even went into his room and tried to talk to him, demand he be sociable, but Raphael just shouted at him to get out.

No, he wasn't making a good first impression. But he had to try. Sure, two weeks late to start caring, but he was only going to stay here for a few more months. As soon as he got a job and got the money to go off on for a few months, he was out of here. He was thinking about moving to New York City or maybe California. He could make it pretty well there with the connections he had going on there. It was a good thing that they moved around a lot of the time or he wouldn't have met so many people before he gave up on trying at all.

Mikey continued to stare at him and more eyes joined when he sat down in a chair and found an interesting crack to stare at. He looked up and everybody had stopped what they were doing and watched him with interest. This continued on for a few seconds before he cleared his throat and awkwardly jestered to the food on the table. "I uh...I wanted to um..e-eat here." He nodded and looked at the table again. "With you guys, I mean. For dinner."

Smooth. He was so smooth in these situations. Almost as smooth as sandpaper.  
The only one who seemed to be okay with this was Splinter. He had given Raph chances more than he would've hoped for. No matter what he said when he was angry, Splinter would just calm him down. He might've been a little old for four teenage boys to call 'dad,' but he was wise and understanding.

With a simple smile and a nod of the head, Splinter agreed for him to eat with the rest of the table. "That would be excellent, Raphael. I am glad you're finally making an effort."

Raph nodded and blurred out for a while. He noticed that the others sat around the table, Leo sitting next to him after nobody else would, their prayer, and the beginning conversation. They were talking about some kind of studio that they were working out in. He never went with them. He worked out during the mornings, so he didn't really need to work out with them any other time. They did have a lot of Japanese things around the house though, so maybe they were just working on anime stuff he never cared for.

When he wasn't really paying attention to anything, or wasn't pretending to do so, he simply listened to the rain splashing shading the widows. It was raining really hard tonight and was only suppose to get worse later. Fun time for all the plants, but he didn't really want to go out in this unless he really had to do so.

"When could I get my things?" He asked suddenly, interrupting whoever was speaking. "I was told that it was up to you when I could get something very personal to me."

After a second to absorb that he was, in fact, talking and asking a question, Splinter answered. "That's correct, but I was told that an officer would get your belongings."

"Yeah, but I have something else that they wouldn't know about. It's at a friend's place and I need a truck to get it."

"Is that why you came down here? So we'd do what you'd want?" Mikey grumbled darkly from across the table.

Raph ignored the comment and went on. "Could I get it? I can't call him because he don't got a phone-"

"Doesn't have a phone, Raphael." Splinter tutted. "What is it exactly that it is? I won't let you go unless you tell me what it is." He looked up from his food and tilted his head. "If you're lying and I find out, you won't be able to go anywhere anymore."

Raphael paused. He had to think this over and fast. If it appeared that he was hesitating too long, it'd seem like he said something random so they wouldn't know. He probably knew what this had looked like to them, that he was on drugs or something. He used to be, but he really didn't like the feeling he got of no control and stopped.

Another thing to consider: would they approve? Would they even let him get the bike and work on it here? He had some minor repairs he needed to do on it, but never got the chance to go down and work on it. A lot of parents don't like their kids on motorcycles because of all the horror stories that came with it, all the insurance costs, the list goes on. His solution? Don't be stupid and don't get insurance. It saved a lot of time and effort going into this. Besides, he wore a helmet and drove in the speed limits (unless he was alone on the highway late at night) so he shouldn't ever get in trouble over it.

"It's probably drugs," Michelangelo commented louder. "I know I would be on drugs if I lived where you did, Raphael." He spat the name out as if it burned him to even say it.

"Mikey, stop." Donnie groaned and rolled his eyes. "We don't even know what Raphael wants, please just be quiet."

"How would we know what he wants? He never talks! This is the longest conversation we had with the guy!" Mikey threw up his arms into the air for more exaggeration.

"How do you think he feels? He just got his life turned upside down, he'd want some time to adjust to-" Leo began next to Raph.

"Time? He's had time!"

"Mikey, stop being immature and just listen to what your brother has to say!"

"Why should I? We know nothing about Raphael! How do we know that he hasn't murdered somebody or something?!" Mikey exclaimed loudly.

"Because he hasn't-"

"Because he hasn't done anything," Mikey continued, "I've seen shows! I know that he has secrets, I know that he's-"

"You don't know nothing!" Raph exploded and stood up sharply and slammed his hands on the table. He finally had enough and lost control. "You know nothing of what I've been through! You have nice things all your life from your dad," he sharply pointed a finger at splinter. "You know what my dad gave me? I have lots of things I got from him. I have scars from when my dad beat me when he was too drunk to find mom!" He yelled and tried to ignore all the eyes watching him. "I've been whipped across the back from his damned belt, I've been stabbed by his broken glass bottles, I've had to fight people on the streets for money or their sick entertainment!" A tear threatened to escape and he cursed it. He was being too emotional now. "I only want my bike," he turned to Splinter. "I just want my damn motorcycle and leave this godforsaken place! Is that too much to ask?" He stepped back and shook his head. After a scan of their stunned faces he shook his head and rubbed his hands through his hair. "Fucking dammit."

"Raphael," Splinter began cautiously. His sons were too shocked to even say a word about this and he needed to control the situation at least a bit, this was already out of hand. "I think that it would be wise for you to-"

Raphael shook his head and turned out of the kitchen. The front door was just beyond the kitchen and he knew he shouldn't run but he didn't care. He didn't have any shoes or a jacket, and he knew he would regret it later, but consequences be damned. He ran away before, he could easily do it again. Maybe find his friend by himself. He could probably recall the way they took him. He'd have to make some alternate routes in case they saw him, but he should be fine. Maybe once he had his motorcycle he would find his mom and they could go somewhere else. Away from this nightmare.

He pushed open the door into the wet air and decided just to run for it. The freezing air bit him hard and left him breathless for the first few minutes of running. Once his body had adjusted to his current surroundings, it calmed down enough for him to start running faster. He knew that they would start looking for him, these people were too damned obsessed with him to just let him go. His feet were starting to get sore from running on cold wet concrete anyway so he stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath and figure out where to go.

He slowly began to put one foot in front of the other. He would wander aimlessly for a while to see where his feet would take him. In this weather it was too cold for him to actually find his friend across the city. He cursed and shook his head. He was so damn stupid for this. He couldn't go back, he didn't want to. Even if Raph didn't want to admit it, he was embarrassed at that display. He didn't want them to know about what he had to go through as a child and now they knew exactly what happened. Luckily, most of the scars weren't visible unless he took off his shirt.

There was a glass window in front of him that showed a what had to be homeless man's reflection. The man wasn't wearing very good clothes for this weather at all. Within hours he would easily be vulnerable for illness to strike. Water soaked him from head to toe in this rain and water dripped down his hair into his face. His face looked like he was crying recently and had been through a really hard time lately with how skinny he was. Maybe Raphael could find something to give the man to eat.

But when he turned to the man, he noticed that the man's reflection moved with him. With a solemn beat, Raphael realized that there wasn't any homeless man. He was the poor man in the window. The reflection sighed and slumped down against the window. He had no idea where he was, cold, wet, and felt abandoned by everybody in the world. "What a joke." Raph sighed and put his head in his hands. "Where did I think I could go?"

"Hey! Whaddya think ya're doing here?" A voice barked at him.

Raph turned and saw a tough looking guy stand there with a hockey mask on. He had a baseball bat in his hands and through the mask looked annoyed. He was a bit taller than Raph and was had obviously been in a few fights in his time.

"Wha," Raph slurred together. He coughed and shook his head to clear himself up. "What?" He repeated.

"I said, what're you doing here? Ya need to leave." The man made himself speak clearer incase this guy didn't really understand english.

Raph shook his head and turned away. "Leave me alone."

The baseball player stepped closer and swung his bat warningly. "I don't think I can do that. Ya see, I have somebody in there," he nodded towards the store window Raph was under. "Who owns this store and I don't want some hobo lounging out here."

"I ain't a hobo. Just step off." Raph growled.

"No can do, freak."

Raph snapped and jumped up. He grabbed the guy's shirt and pushed him back. "Leave me alone!" He yelled into his face and stepped back. "I won't do nothing."

The guy shook his head and picked up his bat that was dropped. "I can't. Casey Jones doesn't roll that way."

"Well, then, Casey," Raphael growled and clenched his fists tightly. "You just got yourself a fight."

"Just what I wanted." Casey grinned and charged forwards with a weird battlecry. Goongala? What the hell was that?

Casey wrecklessly swung for his head, but Raph ducked under the bat's swing and punched Casey's stomach hard. Casey stumbled back and shook his head. "Ya got a punch, I'll give you that."

With a swift uppercut with his bat, he got Raph right in the eye socket. Raphael snarled and held his quickly forming bruise and cursed heavily. Casey smirked and swung his bat again, hitting him in the abdomen.

Raph ducked down and held his stomach tightly. With a groan he looked up and saw Casey holding his bat victoriously. "Ya done? There's a babe that I want to get back to."

"I told you before, Casey Jones, do not call me 'babe!'" A stern voice interrupted them from the store. "I told you to see what the sound was, not beat the living crap out of a teenager."

The two turned their heads to a redhead with her arms crossed across her chest. She was wearing pajamas and had a book tucked in under her arm. She looked like she was tired from whatever happened that day and knowing her, it had been a long day. Raphael had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining things. "April?"

She blinked in confusion and studied him for a second before recognition flashed through her eyes. "Raph? Is that you?"

He let himself relax and he sighed deeply. "You moved places."

Casey flicked his eyes back and forth between the two. "Ya know each other?"

April laughed slightly and went over to Raph to help him up. "Yeah, we go back a ways. He helped me out of a tricky spot before and I have been in his debt since."

"Well, what happened?" He asked suspiciously.

"These guys were going to hurt me and Raph here," she lifted him up with a grunt. He leaned on her shoulder and rolled his eyes with her story. "Chased them away."

"It's all fun and games until they want to fight." He chuckled.

"Right," Casey crossed his arms. "Are you good, April? I need to go home soon."

April nodded. "Of course, Mr. Jones, I trust Raphie with my life."

"Alright then." He uncrossed his arms and glared at the beaten teenager. "But Raph, if you touch her, I'm gonna kill ya."

"Yeah, yeah, Sugarqueen. See ya around."

After he left, April helped him into her apartment upstairs and gently set him down onto the couch. He grunted with pain but relaxed once he had a warm blanket on top of him. He yawned and watched April be a mother hen and constantly check him over for injuries. He was even being lectured by this woman about leaving. He had explained why he was there and caught her up with his life.

"Wow." April whispered after a moment of silence was given for her to soak it all in.

"Yeah, tell me about it." Raph grumbled. After a brief pause in their talk again, he suddenly realized something. "You haven't heard from them, have you?"

"No, sorry. They probably haven't contacted anybody since all this happened." She looked down at her hands in her lap and sighed softly. "But why couldn't you just go and live with a friend or somebody you actually knew?"

"Because the system is screwed up," he shrugged. "Maybe because they're my biological family. I don't know, but I don't really get a say in anything anymore."

She looked on with pity written all over her. She had heard about these types of stories on the television or online, everybody had. But nobody ever talks about what happens during all this-the emotions that everybody goes through. Of course they do sometimes, but that goes with highly paid actors and a box of overpriced popcorn.

April slowly shook her head and rose from her seat across from him. "Well, I think I might go to bed. Are you staying here for the night?"

Raphael nodded solemnly. There wasn't anywhere he could really go right now, anyway. "Yeah, I guess. Is it alright if you give me a ride tomorrow? I'll probably go back to their," he spit the word out, "house until I can get my bike."

She studied him carefully, trying to decide if he should go back to them. With what all he said, it wasn't that great of a place. But she also knew that he couldn't really go to his house just yet to get all his things. So far his only option was to be in foster care with somebody he never knew existed, or to stay with his current family who he was taken from. April tried to put herself into the family's shoes and imagine how it must feel to have somebody just reappear like that.

She couldn't really get a good image going.

With her famous I-feel-bad-for-you-smile on, she noddedcarefully. "Sure, I have to be at work around eleven. Could we leave at ten?"

"We can do that."

She nodded and gently patted his side. "Goodnight, Raphael."


	6. Chapter 5

"Raphael!"

With a groan, he rolled over on the couch and shut his eyes tightly. After last night, all he wanted to do was bask in this bliss of sleep. The couch was finally comfortable after tossing over all night, the blankets wrapped around his ankles just so he felt some of the cool air flow in through his toes. The pillow was molded so the fluff could rest his head in the middle. The blood in his bandages finally dried so he could relax without worrying about it being too soaked. All was peaceful in his land.

"Raphael get up!"

Peace over.

He got up and blinked his heavy eyes. When April wanted him to get up, there was probably a very good reason. Sadly, she probably didn't have one this time.

"What do you want, O'Neil?" He called downstairs. "Because all I want to do is sleep!"

He heard the pounding feet on the stairs before he could comprehend what was truly going on.

"Raphael!" April raised her voice with the tone of 'if you don't listen to me right now, the end of the world would seem like a kiddie pool.'

Raph groaned and rubbed his eyes. "Alright, alright, I'm up, quit your hounding. What are you going on about anyway?"

April appeared at the top of the stairs and crossed her arms. "It's ten in the morning and you're still asleep."

"I'm a teenage boy, what do you expect? I eat, sleep, fight, repeat."

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Look, I think we should take you back." At his shocked and angry face, she quickly continued. "I had lost my uncle when I was a kid and when we finally found him, I didn't want him to leave me and I was like twenty. You're seventeen! Please, please just go talk to them. I'll even go with if you really want."

Raph continued to stare with a blank and sharp look. "Let me think about that." A two second pause. "No."

"Raph, come on," She walked over and sat down next to him on the couch. "I did things I didn't want to for you."

He straightened up at this and looked over at her with an amused sound to his voice. "Name one."

April seemed to freeze and her smile slipped off her face slowly. After a few seconds of watching his smug face, she punched his chest lightly and groaned. "Damn it!" He laughed and she sighed overdramatically. "Ra-a-a-a-aph!" She whined.

"What? Why should I? They lost me once, they can lose me again." He rolled his eyes when she started pouting. "That doesn't work and you know it."

"Please, please, please, please, please, just do this for me! I let you spend the night, you can at least go see them and I swear if it doesn't work out, I'll, I'll do something, okay?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Really? And what will you do?" He leaned over to loom over her.

"I'll...buy you a motorcycle." She sighed and he began whooping. "You already have a motorcycle, so that would just be another thing to lug around."

"That'll be okay, I'll find a way." He laughed. "But, fine. I will, talk, and I mean talk only. Got it?"

April nodded. "That's okay. We leave in ten!" She jumped up from the couch and started jogging down the stairs.

He nodded then snapped his head over to her retreating form. "What?"

"This is a very nice neighborhood, Raph. These houses are gorgeous!" April beamed as she drove her car through the neighborhood. "What was the address again, Raphie?"

"Don't call me 'Raphie', Monthy." He chuckled at her annoyed expression and repeated the address to her. "It's the one right after the green car."

"You...mean the one with the cop car in front of it?"

Raphael shot his head up with speed to match the speed of sound. Indeed there was a cop car in front of the house, including Stacy's car and what appeared to be Leo's car. He cursed loudly and slammed his hands on the dash. "Shit! Shit! I can't do this, turn around, April, we gotta leave, we can get my bike ourselves an-and move or something," he began ranting away and blinking rapidly.

"Raph? Raph? Calm down," April moved her head from him to the road and back. "It'll be okay, it'll be okay!" She raised her voice and began to shush him. She patted his arm and sighed. With a quiet curse, she pulled over and turned off the engine. "Raphael, calm down. We're in this together, remember?"

He continued to shake and hyperventilate in the car seat. April didn't know what to do. In all of her time that she knew Raph, he never acted like this. The closest he was to crying was when he broke his arm and had to get some stitches. It was fine in the end, but he was on heavy medication to ease the pain and he would not stop whining. She just gave him some chocolate and put on Mean Girls. Ever since then when he heard the words 'Glen Coco,' he would break out and do the entire scene.

"Come on, I promise everything will be okay, alright?" She rubbed his back delicately and shushed him again. "It's okay, I won't leave you for a second."

He slowly turned to her and nodded. "Promise?" His voice cracked, along with her heart, and she nodded again.

"I promise."

After a few seconds, he nodded and opened the door. With one last hope, he turned to her with hope in his eyes. She shook her head and nodded to the house. He sighed and got out of the car and closed the door. She sighed and followed him.

He didn't hesitate up until he had to ring the doorbell. He looked at her desperately and she gave him a small smile. "It's okay, Raph." She reached over him to press the taunting doorbell and stepped back to wait with him.

There were heavy footsteps coming to the door. She knew that she promised that she would be here with him, but really, she felt nervous and didn't want to be here herself. April flicked her eyes to Raphael, who was shaking slightly, to check him over. He looked better than he did last night, but now that she actually had him with her here, this might've been a really bad ide-

"Raph!" An older version of her friend shouted, jumping to hug him. "You're back!"

Raph seemed to feel guilty when he patted his brother's back softly and looked over at her. "Yup, never really planned on going anywhere."

The brother stepped back into the open doorway and shouted to the others that he was back, which caused more footsteps to sound throughout the house. "Raph, we were looking all night for you, are you...okay?" He scrunched his eyebrows together and studied his brother over. He definitely looked like he had a rough night with what shape his eye was in, along with all the other bruising on him.  
"April, this is Leonardo, my older brother." Raph lifted his arm up to point out who he was. "Leo, this is my very close friend, April."

Leo turned to her as if he didn't notice her before. "Oh, hey, April. How're you?"

"Been well, Leo. Didn't know that Raph here was your brother."

"Wait, what?" Raph looked between them. "You know each other?"

April nodded. "Yeah, we're really good friends. I didn't know these guys were your family, Raph!"

Before he could respond, Donnie and Mikey showed up and beamed at his appearance. "Whoa, Raph, did you get into a fight with somebody?"

"Yeah, you guys know Casey too?" He stormed past them into the kitchen. "Apparently, it's a small world."

"Raphael!"

Raph sighed for the thousandth time that morning and turned to find his 'father', caseworker, and a cop sitting at the table. The cop closed a small notebook full of notes and sat up in the chair, Stacy looked unamused and Splinter...well, if looks could kill..

"Where have you been?" Splinter asked. "We looked for you all night!"

"I, I was out." He shrugged, trying to play this off like he did with his parents. "I went to go see April."

"You know April?" Splinter asked, clearly surprised. "I didn't know that you-"

"Yeah, she let me sleep over at her place." He could hear his brothers and her laughing about something at the door and he sighed. "Clearly, she knows you all very well."

"Miss O'Neil is a very good friend of ours," Splinter turned to the cop. "She is very trustworthy."

The cop nodded and looked at the fight marks on Raphael. "I see. Have you done anything sexual with her? Is it a sexual relationship you two have?"

Raph blushed and cleared his throat. "No, no, we did...stuff once, but it ended there. We were both drinking and…" He cleared his throat and tried to think of other things. "Sorry about all of this, I just lost it."

"Raphael, I don't know what to do with you. I had to report this officially on your record as a runaway, do you know how hard it is to get a foster family interested in you if this is how you act?" Stacy scoffed as she went through the file. "I've had missing runaways before and let me tell you," she waved her finger at him, "they do not get far in life. Foster especially won't want to get stuck with you."

"Those don't really get to choose-"

"Foster family? What's this about a foster family? Isn't he staying with us?" Splinter cut in, heart in his stomach. "Aren't you?" He turned to Raph, pleading him to give him the answer he wanted. Raph couldn't bring himself to look at those hopeful eyes and dropped his gaze to the floor. "My son?"

A silence took in, the only sound being the guest and the other three at the door, clearly enjoying themselves. It was a full minute before Stacy wrote something in the file she was holding and nodded to the police officer. "Alright, well, if that's all said and done we will be on our way. Glad you're back, Raphael. Call me if anything happens, okay?"  
"Sure," he muttered and kept his gaze on a very interesting thing on his shoe. "Whatever you say."

Once they were alone, the awkward and hurt feeling filled the room, battling for dominance in the open area. Splinter kept watching him with so much pain on his face, it made him feel bad about even thinking that his black eye was throbbing in pain. The silence was sharper than a knife and Raph really wished that those dorks at the door would shut up and go away. They were pissing him off and it was conflicting with how bad he was feeling about Master Splinter.

"Look, I'm sorry I just…" Raph sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know what-"

"We will talk about this later. I need to go meditate." Splinter all but whimpered as he got up with his cane and walked past Raphael to go to his room, leaving him there to sulk.

Raph sighed heavily once the door was closed and tried to not have self-pity. This was his hell and if he didn't like it then he could suck it. And things just kept getting better and better around here. At least he had the sounds of laughter fill his ears with his dear friend and oh so sweet brothers.

"Would you guys shut up?!"


End file.
